Every Presidential candidate vying for their party’s nomination try to paint themselves as the worst nightmare of the other party. For Republicans, it’s become a standard to respond to hit pieces in liberal mainstream media as proof that they’re the candidate the Democrats fear the most. With Ted Cruz, it appears that his claims are actually correct. The Democrats would prefer to take on Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, or Chris Christie because they feel they would be easier to defeat.

It takes some discernment to see why this would be the case. To understand, we have to look beyond the attacks even though Cruz is clearly getting the lion’s share even though Trump is the frontrunner. The “big guns” are waiting at the ready to fire at Donald Trump. Liberal publications have collected stories from former employees, ex-executives at his companies, ex-wives, television executives, and even pageant contestants who are prepared to tell the world how terrible of a person Donald Trump is. We haven’t heard about the various skeletons in his closet because they’re waiting until after the primaries in hopes that he gets the nomination.

For Rubio, it’s a much easier fight. They don’t have to take him out the way they’ll attack Trump. They simply have to highlight his shifting views and major financial problems that he’s had throughout his life. They realize that nobody wants a fiscally irresponsible person in the White House. He’s an easy target and would get annihilated in the press and head-to-head against either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.

Chris Christie is the easiest target. He only appeals to a certain type of personality. He won’t make friends in Ohio, Colorado, or any of the swing states outside of the northeast. Even there, he’ll have challenges because of the liberal nature of the region. Throw in Bridgegate and accusations of corruption and Christie would lose in a landslide.

Then, there’s Cruz. Any other year he would be considered too conservative to be a viable threat against Clinton, but he’s the ethical opposite of her. If she gets the nomination, he’ll run on his character, consistency, and unwavering patriotism against her scheming and politically expedient reputation. He’ll also be able to demonstrate that he’s accomplished more to shape the course of events in the country as a defender of the Constitution and watchdog over the Senate than everything Mrs. Clinton has done in three decades as a political figure.

Sanders is the wildcard who negates the extreme right views of Cruz by being his counterpart on the extreme left. Against Sanders, Cruz would have to run on ideology and he’s the only candidate who can be the ideological foil to Sanders. There’s a real risk that Sanders could enamor Independents who hate Trump, fail to understand Rubio, and don’t trust Christie. With Cruz, it would be a fight between the idealistic right and the idealistic left. Those odds are simply too close for the liberal mainstream media and the Democratic party to accept.

He’s already getting a ton of attacks from his competition, but the fact that the NY Times, Washington Post, and other mainstream publications are so focused on taking him down now should be evidence enough that he’s the candidate they don’t want to face in November.